Maybe
it was the 99-degree heat the day I boarded Primadonna at Christensen's
marina in Washington State, but something about this 142-footer kept saying
"hot" to me.

There
was certainly an abundance of custom glass work in the saloon and, throughout
the rest of the yacht, ingeniously intricate inlays of wood, stainless
steel, and glass, making for a distinctly personal showpiece for her Las
Vegas-based owner. And the sheer number of different marbles used was
dizzying. But when I entered the shade of the air-conditioned engine room
from the sizzling heat outside, I knew immediately that my initial impression
was right: There, complementing the fire-engine-red 4000 Series DDC-MTUs,
was gold-tone (yes, gold) diamondplate. I caught myself smiling almost
giddily--something I've never done in an engine room before.

Clearly,
here was a yacht owned by a man who understood what "custom"
construction was all about. It was also clear that he--characterized
by the design and construction teams as a man who makes decisions quickly
and one who knows exactly what he wants--was passionate about his
leisure time. From the unusual placement of a fighting chair on the large
open "swim step"--basically an open cockpit--to
the concert-quality sound emanating from the speakers flanking the bow
sunpad, the focus was on fun.

Let's
start with that fighting chair. Simply bolting it to a backing plate in
the midst of an enclosed cockpit just wouldn't do onboard Primadonna.
Instead, it's practically a throne, poised on a rail-like stainless
steel pedestal rising out of the livewell. And no ordinary livewell would
do, either; this one is adorned with a billfish logo that's visible
even at night, thanks to fiber-optic lighting.

Should
an afternoon spent in that fighting chair reap rewards from the sea, the
owner and his guests get to enjoy quite an unusual show when the chef
prepares the catch inside. Like a curtain rising on a command performance,
there's a painting forward in the dining area that rises at the
press of a button to reveal a window into the galley. Through it, the
owner and guests can take in the beautifully executed country French design
of the galley, highlighted by a lovely light-tone marble (intriguingly
named Colonial Dream) and a tiled sea scene on the stove's hood.
As for the chef, this culinary master gets to "play" with
one of the ultimate toys found mostly in high-end hotels and restaurants:
an Alto-Shaam smoker for large items like turkey and prime rib.